Refrigerator



Nov. 6, 1928. 1,690,407

. G. J. GRUENDLER ET AL REFRIGERATOR Filed Nov. 9. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 6, 1928.

G. J. GRUENDLER ET AL REFRIGERATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. g, 1925 Nov, 6, 1928. 1,690,407

G. J. GRUENDLER ET AL REFRIGERATOR Filed Nov. 9, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 z mm? $43k /7/'a/77 6/677, 1 1 2A9 k m 17%??? Nov. 6, 1928.

G. J. GRUENDLER ET AL REFRIGERATOR Filed Nov. 9, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Nov. 6, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

GUSTAV J. GBUENDLEIt AND WILLIAM A. MELETIO, on ST. LOUIS cooNrY, MISSOURI:

REFRIGERATOR.

Application filed November 9, 1925. Serial no- 67,877.

Our invention relates to refrigerators and more particularly to refrigerators of the display or show case type. V

Heretotorc refrigerators of this type have had one storage compartment therein and in which all of the food-stuffs to be preserved were placed. However, these food-stuffs were of a widely different character in that some required an almost freezing tempera.-

ture for preserving them and to prevent de-.

composition while others of the food-stuffs could be preserved equally as well at a higher temperature. However, slnce these refrigerators had only one storage compartment the wholestorage compartment had to be maintained at the temperature required to preserve the most perishable food-studs stored therein with a resultant great waste of ice. p

The object of our invention lStOPI'OVldG a refrigerator in which two storage compartments are used and which storage compartments are mainta ned at different temperatures and are adapted to preserve dltferent classes of fobd S tn'fiS. f

Our invention is fully shown in the accompanying drawings wherein similar letters are used to designate similar parts: Fig. 1 is a top view of the refrigerator; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are front, back and end views, respectivelv.of the refrigerator; Fig. 5 is a section ailong the lines 5--5in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a section along the lines 6 6 in Fig. 1; Fig. -7 shows a detail of construction and Figs. '8, 9 and 10 show a refrigerator embodying a modified form of some of the parts. Referring to the. figures the refrigerator shown therein and including one embodiment of our invention comprises an upper 1 or primary storage compartment A and a lower or secondary storage compartment B separated therefrom. The upper storage compartment A has a back wall C having the service doors Dhingedly mounted thereon each of which is normally held inclosed position by a catch E. The storage compartment A also has a top wall F, a front wall G and end walls H all of which in this form of our invention consist of glass plates arranged as shown. In the rear wall of the lower storage compartment B are the doors J,normallyheld in closed positionby addr tional catches E. The .frontwall of the storage compartment B is provided with a transparent panel K. The upper and lower compartments A and B are separated by a wall X which is preferably insulated with cork or any other suitable material, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, for the purpose hereinafter explained.

The refrigerating means for cooling the two compartments of the refrigerator, as shown in this embodiment, comprises a primarycooling medium positioned in the upper storage compartment A and a secondary cooling medium positioned in the lower storage compartment B. The primary cooling medium consists of an ice containerL, preferably of metal, positioned in the bottom of the upper storage compartment A and substantially co-extensive therewith, as shown. The ice container L'in this form of our invention is adapted to receive blocks of ice, but in other forms of our invention it maybe charged with cracked ice and salt. The bottom of the container L is pitched transversely to the middle, as shown in Fig. 6, and longitudinally to one end, as shown in Fig. 5, so that the water resulting from the melting of ice in the container will pass out of thedrain opening M at the lower end of the ice container and will pass downwardly through the drip pipe N into the receptacle of the secondary cooling medium in the other compartment.

The secondary cooling medium is adapted to cool the lower storage compartment B and comprises a receptacle which may be of any form but which in the embodiment of our invention shown in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, consists of a tank 0 which is positioned to receive and hold the cold water as it comes out from the lower end of the drip pipe N. A drain pipe P, preferably threaded in a boss Q in the bottom of the tank 0, as shown in Fig. 7, is arranged to drain the excess water from the tank 0 after the level of the water in the tank has almost reached the top thereof, as clearly shown in -Fig. 6. The

drain pipe P discharges into an outlet pipe B through which the water passes out of the refrigerator. e preter that the drip pipe N extends downwardly a suflicient distance into the tank 0 and that the drain pipe P container L of the primary cooling medium,

as shown in Figs. 8 to 10, inclusive, consists ofa coil pipe S preferably arranged along the top of the lower compartment B and having at one end the inlet header '1 arranged to receive the water as it comes downwardly through the drip pipe N and at the other end having the outlet header U which has the drain pipe V extending downwardly therefrom and emptying into the outlet pipe R. The outlet header U and the drain pipe V are constructed to trap the cold water in the coil pipe S and maintain the pipe at all times filled and the inlet header T is arranged so that the water therein will subtact with the ice in the ice container L.

Since the upper storage compartment A has the ice container L therein, it will be cooled to a comparatively low temperature by this primary cooling medium and the perishable food-stuffs placed therein will be preserved.

'Astheice in the ice container'L melts the cold water resulting from the meltin of the ice, as explained above, passesout tirou h the opening, M and downwardly through t 1e drip pipe N into the cold water receptacle which may be the tank 0, the coil pipe S, or in any other suitable form. As set forth above, both in the tank 0 and the coil pipe 1 S the cold water is trapped therein so that the cold water receptacle is at all times substantially filled with cold water and, also, the cold water as it enters the receptacle through the drip pipe N is discharged into the receptacle below the level of the water therein. The cold water in' this receptacle will chill the receptacle and will cool the lower storage compartment B but, of course, not to the same low temperature as the upper storage compartment is cooled by the ice in the ice container L. The lower "storage compartment is adapted to receive less perishable food-stuffs, smoked fish and meats, cheese, butter, and the like, which do not require a low temperature for their preserving.

It can be readily seen that since the upper storage compartment only is cooled to the low temperature necessary to preserve highly perishable food-stuffs and that, since the lower storage compartment 13 is separated from the compartment A by the wall X and is cooled by the auxiliary cooling medium comprising a cold water receptacle and complem ntary pipes and fittings, the ice consumption in a refrigerator embodying our invention will be much less than a refrigerator of the old type having the same storage space.

Also, if the coil pipe S is used to receive and hold the cold water resulting from the melting of the ice and the coil is positioned along the top of the storage compartment B, as shown, the air in the top of the refrigerator will be cooled and will fall to the bottom so that a more even temperature in y we have stated only one embodiment of our 1 invention has been set forth herein and the construction, shape and arrangement of the various parts may be varied within wide limits without deviating from the spirit of our invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A refrigerator having a primary compartment having an ice container therein and asecondary compartment having a receptacle consisting of, aicoil pipe positioned along the top thereof and adapted and arranged to receive and hold liquid resulting from the melting of ice in said ice container, a drip pipearranged to carry .said liquid from said ice container and discharge it into one end of said coil pipe and a drain pipe adapted and arranged to maintain a predetermined level of liquid in said receptacle and to allow the surplus liquid to drain;

from said rece tacle at the end thereof opposite the end lIltO WlllCl'l the liquid is discharged from said ice container.

2. A refrigerator having a plurality of separated compartments positioned one above the other, a portion of the wall of each of said compartments being of transparentmaterial, an ice container positioned in the uppermost of said compartments andanother of said compartments having therein a receptacle positioned along the top thereof L and adapted andarranged to receive and hold liquid resulting from the melting of ice in said ice container.

3. A refrigerator having upper and lower ice in said ice container, a drip pipe arranged to carry said liquid from said ice container and discharge it into one end of said coil pipe and a drain pipe adapted and arranged to maintain a predetermined level of liquid in said receptacle and to allow the surplus liquid to drain from said receptacle at the end thereof opposite the end into which the liquid is discharged from said ice container.

In witness whereof we have signed our names to this s ecification.

G STAV J. GRUENDLER. WILLIAM A. MELETIO. 

